Sanitary napkins and other sanitary appliances generally contain an absorbent medium to retain body exudates and secretions and a fluid impervious liner to prevent flow of fluid through the absorbent material. In some instances, sanitary appliances also include an upper fluid pervious layer to protect the source of fluid flow, e.g. a wound surface or body opening from direct contact with the absorbent material. The inclusion of such a layer is desirable to prevent the sloughing off of absorbent material into the surface of the wound or into a body orifice.
Sanitary napkins have, in the past, been made with a variety of constructions in which the fluid impervious baffle is always attached to the absorbent material by adhesive means. For example, sanitary napkins now being sold under the NEW FREEDOM trademark by Kimberly-Clark Corporation feature a fluid impervious wrap which completely surrounds an absorbent matrix. The overlapped wrap is sealed by means of adhesive strips which penetrate the overlap layer. Between the absorbent matrix and the fluid pervious wrap is a fluid impervious baffle which is adhered to the wrap by traditional adhesive means.
Another type of construction known in the sanitary napkin art is generally described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,079,739, issued to Howard A. Whitehead and assigned to Kimberly-Clark Corporation. This particular patent describes a die cut pad which features coterminous layers of absorbents and a baffle and, in one embodiment, an outer fluid permeable wrap. In this particular patent, integrity of the absorbent layer is obtained by compressing a distinct spaced pattern along its surface. This pad integrity is obviously important in instances where no fluid pervious wrap is utilized. The baffle is adhesively attached to the absorbent portion. Other pads have been developed in which the fluid impervious baffle overlaps the side and, in some instances, portions of the top of the absorbent material but because it is desirable to maintain the baffle position relative to the position of the absorbent matrix, it has been necessary to adhesively adhere the baffle to the absorbent matrix at least in some portion of the area in which they are in juxtaposition.
There are several disadvantages inherent in the inclusion of adhesive both from the product standpoint and from the standpoint of the manufacturing operation itself. First, with regard to the product, the inclusion of adhesive adds undesirable rigidity and loss of perceived softness to the sanitary napkin or, any other sanitary appliance for that matter. From the manufacturing standpoint, an additional step is needed to apply the adhesive which complicates and slows the manufacturing process and, also, adds an additional cost factor by its existence.